Player Profile: Cassidy Spilis
Senior midfielder Cassidy Spilis was honored prior to the Rutgers women's lacrosse team's Senior Day game against James Madison last Sunday.
Spilis has played for the Scarlet Knights (7-8, 1-5) for the last four seasons after an extremely successful high school career at Seneca High School in Tabernacle, New Jersey. During her time at her alma mater, Spilis scored 331 goals, and she was a two-time All-American, first-team all-state and Olympic Conference Player of the Year.
Rutgers was always on Spilis' mind during her recruiting process.
"Whenever I thought about playing lacrosse in college, I always thought of Rutgers," Spilis said. "When they came into the equation in my recruiting process, it was a no-brainer."
Spilis has been a stalwart player in the program since joining the Knights in 2020. She helped lead Rutgers to its historic 2022 season, in which the team registered a program-high 16 wins and advanced to the Big Ten Tournament finals for the first time in program history.
Spilis reflected on Big Ten women's lacrosse and her career with the Knights.
"It’s been honestly such an incredible opportunity coming into the Big Ten, such good competition within my own team … and the teams that we get to play within conference and even out of conference," Spilis said. "The experience is beyond words for me. It’s really been an honor."
Spilis will go down as one of the most successful Rutgers players ever, as her 186 goals scored is the second most in Knights history. She is just 2 goals away from passing Taralyn Naslonski for the most goals in program history.
Spilis tallied 69 goals last season, which is a program record for most goals in one season. She was also named the 2022 Big Ten Midfielder of the Year.
When asked about what her favorite moment at Rutgers was, Spilis could not decide.
"I feel like there’s just been so many historical moments since I’ve been here, and just being a part of that has been really cool," she said.
When asked about her future, Spilis revealed the big news.
"I’m coming back," Spilis said. "I’ll be here another year, so I’m really excited just to grow even further with this program going into next year."
With the current season coming to a close, the Knights still have some work to do if they want to make the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season, and Spilis will be leading the charge for Rutgers to try and receive a bid.
For more updates on the Rutgers women's lacrosse team, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
